Queen’s Park says it’s up to Ottawa to call a public inquiry into the G20 Summit that roiled Toronto.

And Toronto Mayor David Miller insists no inquiry is needed, saying the city’s Police Services Board will conduct a routine review with input from citizens — and anyone who feels they were mistreated by police can complain directly to the provincial Office of the Independent Police Review Director.

But Ontario’s New Democrats say there are “far more questions than there are answers” after the wild weekend of violence and the decisions that led up to it, making it essential to have an inquiry into how Toronto was chosen, security was planned, as well as police tactics and strategy over the weekend.

“It’s unbelievable so many crimes could be committed in the presence of so many police officers,” said New Democrat MPP and justice critic Peter Kormos, referring to the “black bloc” protesters who ran amok despite a security tab of almost $1 billion.

An elderly arms dealer and lobbyist accused of playing a major role in a slush fund affair that plunged Germany’s Christian Democrats into chaos in the 1990s and set the chancellor, Angela Merkel, on the road to power, went on trial today for alleged fraud.

Karlheinz Schreiber, 75, who has joint Canadian and German citizenship, pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, tax evasion and being an accessory to fraud, in a trial that is being watched closely by political and business communities, not least because of revelations he might make over who knew what about the funding scandal.

His friends and contacts with whom he famously shared a table at Munich’s Oktoberfest, included intelligence agents, state secretaries and arms manufacturers.

Prosecutor Marcus Paintinger told the court in Augsburg, southern Germany, that Schreiber had withheld €13.3m in taxes from the €32m commission he received from sales of Airbus aeroplanes to Thailand, helicopters to the Canadian coastguard, and […]

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott wants Canadians to “walk a mile in my shoes” – a Mountie’s brown boots – before RCMP Commissioner William Elliott judging the organization or its people in the fatal tasering of the Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport.

But the RCMP is not the victim here, and it will not regain Canadians’ confidence by acting like one. Mr. Elliott’s comment is egregious and insulting because he asks for his organization what he does not ask of it – that it walk a mile in the shoes of an unarmed immigrant who did not speak English or French, and who had been waiting for his mother for 10 hours. Never mind a mile.

The Mounties never took the first step. They began tasering Mr. Dziekanski, about whom they knew nothing, and never asked, within 30 seconds of approaching him.

Mr. Elliott asks for empathy, but why should Canadians ignore incompetence and unprofessionalism?

It is clear to nearly everyone in Canada except the RCMP that the tasering was unnecessary, brutal and a national embarrassment. […]

The federal Conservative Party is moving ahead with reforms to its process of nominating candidates for elections that will mean incumbent MPs won’t have to fight for nominations in their ridings.

The proposal would declare incumbent MPs acclaimed as candidates in the next election unless two-thirds of members in their ridings ask for an open nomination contest.

The party is sending ballots on the issue to its members. Only those with a Conservative Party membership as of March 10 can vote.

The idea is to respect the wishes of members as well as free up MPs so they can direct their time and effort to bolstering the minority government in Ottawa, according to Gord Elliot of the party’s national council.

The Archbishop of Lisbon, Cardinal José da Cruz Policarpo, never ceases to amaze. In an interview last summer with the monthly magazine “Ordem dos Advogados” in which he spoke about female priesthood, he aired his views once again, this time on Freemasons. On this occasion, however, his views seem to be shared by the Vatican […]

Today the Guardian publishes for the first time what we believe is a unique photograph. It pierces the wall of secrecy which surrounds one of Britain’s most mysterious organisations by revealing a large gathering of London policemen wearing the white gloves, embroidered sashes and lambskin aprons of the worshipful order of freemasonry.

Somewhat lost among all the commentary about what the Pope had to say about homosexuality in that press conference, is his passing reference to another ‘lobby’ that may or may not be at work in the Vatican.

Meeting in Protestant Church is assessed differently - During the Protestant Association for Philosophical Questions (EZW) is the transfer of the church partly questionable, it defends the parish council

Cincinnati has long appeared to have a revolving door between the Masonic lodges and the Catholic Church. Having grown up there, I can recall discussions of various people who were both in Knights of Columbus and Masons, and rumors of parishes that were pagan experiments. People talk, and that sort of talk happened way before […]

Potentially as damaging as the cost over-runs are the claims made by critics like military analyst Winslow Wheeler that the F-35 is a “virtual flying piano” that lacks agility and is grounded far too often for maintenance.

Earlier this year, Rorate Caeli ran a report on Bishop Luiz Demétrio Valentini, Bishop of the Diocese of Jales in Brazil giving an address at the 53rd anniversary of the Masonic Lodge "Colonel Balthazar" in Jales. (In the picture below, he is the one not wearing a tie.)

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